When I used to speak with marketing students, I would explain the three basic small business marketing approaches like this.

Marketing approach 1: Chopping down a tree with a hammer

Yes, you can chop a tree down with a hammer but it will take days of needless, backbreaking work. This is what happens when you use the wrong tool for the job.

Most of the small business owners I hear from fit into this category. Instead of using the correct marketing tools for what they want to achieve, they use the tools they are comfortable with. They complain about their lack of success, but keep repeating the same old errors. If you are not getting the results you want from your marketing, stop whatever you are doing and make sure you are using the right tools for what you want to achieve.

Marketing approach 2: Chopping down a tree with an axe

Yes, you can chop a tree down with an axe and instead of it taking you a few days, as it would with a hammer, it might only take you a couple of hours of hard work. This is what happens when you use a tool that’s designed specifically for what you want to achieve. It’s massively more efficient. You get better results, for less effort.

From a marketing perspective, a far smaller group of small business owners fit into this category. These are the people, who have invested their time refining how they market their business and thus eliminated what didn’t work and embraced what did. What’s left is a shiny set of effective marketing tools.

Marketing approach 3: Chopping down a tree with a chain saw

You can chop a tree down with a chainsaw in minutes; without even breaking into a sweat. Like an axe, it’s a tool that’s specially designed for the job. Unlike the axe, which was designed hundreds of years ago (or more), today’s chainsaws use the very latest technology. So, not only will the chainsaw do the job, it will do it better, more accurately and in a fraction of the time.

From a marketing perspective, very few small business owners fit into this category. These rare people are the ones who have not only discovered some marketing tools that work; they have also discovered the perfect tools for what they want to achieve and the most effective way to use them, so they get the best possible results. They plan their marketing ahead of time and make far better decisions.

Compare that approach, to the more typical small business owner’s attitude to marketing. Marketing is something these guys do when there’s a problem; like the loss of a major account or the sudden realisation that they are not making any real progress. So, for example, they might decide to “try a mail shot” and send a poorly written letter (which is essentially a sales pitch) to an out of date list of people, who never asked to be contacted.

They then usually proclaim; “we tried mail shots – they don’t work!” I’m assuming they are the same people who think “cars don’t work” because they don’t know how to drive! 😉

Most people reading this, will see themselves primarily in one of those three general groups. The best advice I can give you, is to get yourself into that third group, as quickly as you can!

There’s a big difference between learning something and learning something of value. When I speak with people about my services, I often say;

“Some coaches teach so others can learn – That’s not me!
Some coaches teach so others can accomplish – That IS me!”

This is because not all information is the same. I meet with businesspeople all the time, who tell me how much they enjoyed a certain book or how interesting they found a seminar or workshop they attended – BUT that they still have the same problems or challenges. They were educated, but with the wrong information for their unique situation.

What are your specific marketing challenges?

I’m guessing that every person reading that question, will have similar answers. They may want to:

Make more sales.

Make the same number of sales, but make those sales higher quality.

Boost their profits.

Find new markets for their products / services.

All the above

Here’s where the challenge begins for most small businesses. You see, although they generally want to achieve one or more of the above outcomes, their situations are unique. For example, they have differing skills, time resources, finances and unique likes and dislikes. So, if they apply a ‘general’ marketing idea that they pick up from a; book, seminar, website or newsletter, it’s usually pretty ineffective.

Another month / year’s worth of business progress is lost. (Ouch!)

When I put a marketing strategy together for one of my clients, I always match what they want to achieve, with their unique resources. For those of you intent on going it alone with your marketing, I strongly suggest you try and do the same.

Here’s just a handful of things you need to ask yourself, before you use marketing ideas you find in a book, seminar, website etc:

Does it fit in with your time resources? Do you have the time available to start it off and to see it through to the end?

Does it fit in with your finances? Can you afford to implement it correctly in the short, medium and long-term?

Will it provide the results you need quickly enough? When do you need to see a bankable return (MONEY) from it? Do you believe it will get you where you need to be in time?

Is it consistent with your personality and your reputation? If you put (whatever) marketing in place, will it be consistent with your commercial image?

Can you clearly see the direct benefit it will bring? Is it going to generate; readers, follows, retweets, Facebook friends OR is it going to generate the bankable results you need?

How might it impact your relationship with your existing clients and customers? For instance, if you are thinking of offering a super deal for new clients, how might this make your existing clients feel – knowing they are getting a worse deal?

Is the end result likely to generate the profile of client or customer you want? Are you sure that doing (whatever) marketing, is going to deliver the type of new business you want?

The point of this post is to highlight that your unique situation will only improve, when you start using strategies that compliment it correctly.

Whatever do you, don’t waste another year doing the wrong things really well!

I received an email over the weekend from the owner of a website, which I want to share with you. It’s a great example of how people think the normal rules of marketing do not apply to the Internet.

The emailer wrote to me, asking if I could just do a quick marketing job for her.

All she wanted was for me to make her website generate $5,000 a month, every month, without her having to do much; because she’s too busy to update it. She went on to say; “I don’t think it will take much to reach my goal,” before asking if I could do all this as a quick, one-off project.

The site this lady contacted me about is over 4 years old and is really dated. Despite her efforts over the years, her site gets very little traffic. It also has very few inlinks for a site of that age. Oh, and it’s competing for business in one of the most competitive, professionally marketed marketplaces on the Internet; personal development.

Even if the emailer threw thousands at advertising (and there was no suggestion of a marketing budget), to make it profitable would require a total overhaul and a VERY effective short, medium and long term marketing strategy. It would require ongoing testing and measuring (like all successful marketing.) The bottom line here is that generating a $5,000 per month income, competing alongside some of the best marketed organisations on the planet for every one of those dollars, is not a quick project.

Internet marketing benefits

There’s no doubt that the Internet and digital communications offer unprecedented marketing, sales and business development opportunities; however, you still need to apply an effective strategy if you want your Internet marketing to succeed. For example, this blog attracts an average of just over 50 emails for my marketing business, each day (7 days a week.) It has generated 6 figures in income for my business in the past year – BUT, this didn’t just happen. It was the result of an effective marketing strategy.

Google announced back in 2008 that it had already indexed over a TRILLION unique URL’s. That number will have increased massively since then, and it gives you an idea of how many other pages and sites there are, that YOUR prospective clients or customers could be looking at rather than yours. They may be wasting time on some of those sites or listening to music or tweeting or spending money. The thing is, you need a strategy if you want to capture their imagination. You need a strategy if you want them to ‘discover’ you and see how brilliant you are.

One of the common factors behind all successful businesses, is that they use a strategic approach to their marketing rather than a tactical approach. So, what’s the difference?

Strategic marketing

In short, businesses that take a strategic approach to their marketing, think ahead and plan ahead. They ‘compound’ many marketing activities together to leverage the best possible sales results.

Tactical marketing

Businesses that take a tactical approach, tend not to plan their marketing in advance. As a result, each individual marketing activity is done in isolation and therefore, lacks momentum. Tactical marketing decisions are usually made either on a whim or (most commonly), in reaction to a sales problem.

For example, a business owner will wait until sales are down – and then decide to ‘do something’ about it. They then do one single thing in isolation, (often a mailing, advertisement or an email blast) and typically get a very poor response. Often, I see a business with a single marketing letter or advertisement, which they use whenever ‘business is bad’ – rather than using a series of letters or advertisements, which build upon each other strategically, to create a compound leverage effect!

What is compound leverage & why do you need it?

Compound leverage is when you do a series of marketing activities, which compound to create a result that’s greater than the sum of the individual parts.

For example:
If you have a marketing email and you send that same marketing email, to the same list of people 6 times – you will see your results drop after each mailing.

However, if you decide to do a series of 6 different marketing emails; with each email building upon the previous one, you will see the power of the 6th email massively leveraged, because of the foundation created by the initial email and all the curiosity / desire created by the 2nd-5th emails.

By switching from a tactical approach to a strategic approach, you can massively improve the success of your marketing without having to invest a penny extra. In fact, many people see far better results AND are able to cut their marketing budget at the same time!

The switch from a tactical approach to a strategic one, requires a shift from having a short-term focus (tactical) to having a medium or long term focus (strategic.) Every successful business I have worked with or studied, thinks and plans ahead with a long term focus.

If you want your business to not only survive but thrive during 2009, don’t wait until 1st January to do something – make a plan today! Put a strategy together, which consists of a series of marketing activities that compound to provide you with the kind of forward momentum you and your business will need in 2009!

As you may already know, I am passionate about helping as many people as possible to massively boost their sales and profits. This means I’m always looking for great marketing ideas, which I can share with people – and today, I have enlisted the help of 37 amazing professionals, who are going to each give a single, short marketing tip!

What 1 piece of marketing advice would you give to a start-up business?

My question was; “What 1 piece of marketing advice would you give to a start-up business?” Now, the reason the following answers to this question are so focused, is that they were given by people who only had 140 characters in order to get their answer across!

Twitter

Yes, each of the answers you are about to read, were submitted by people I do not know, but who follow me via my favourite social media website Twitter. The end result are 37 diverse and often-powerful answers, from 37 incredibly clever people, who wanted to pass on their ideas to help you and your business!

I am posting the answers exactly as they were sent, with the abbreviations etc, so you can see for yourself just how much value someone can get into such short messages!

It’s also worth considering that these answers come from a brilliantly rich group of people, from many different profiles of businesses, and this is reflected in their answers – which really helps!

I think the end result is amazing and would like to personally thank everyone who was kind enough to offer this advice here for my readers. Obviously, I do not endorse and am not responsible for, the content of the external sites listed in this post!

After you read the answers below, see if you can offer some great advice yourself, using 140 characters, in the comments section!

So, what 1 piece of marketing advice would YOU give to a start-up business?

Here’s 37 answers in 140 characters or less!

Marketing is like a snowball. You have to keep rolling to see results. You can’t start and stop and start and stop.
Cynthia Powell www.ChicksAndCubs.com

Innovation in marketing is as much imp as innovation in product itself. think different in marketing it.
Sushrut Bidwai www.sushrutbidwai.com

Talk to your customer. constantly. don’t assume you have what they need. confirm it with them.
Julie Lenzer Kirk www.JulieLenzerKirk.com

There are “bug” days and “windshield” days. Be the Windshield and ready to travel lonely dirt roads to reach your destination.
Tim Hayden www.gpexperience.com

Truly love what you do or you won’t stick with it long enough to succeed!
Karalyn J. Eckerle http://cardinalpointva.typepad.com

Conclusion

The marketing tips above were sent to me within just thirty minutes of asking the original question. This means that there are not only a lot of extremely helpful people ‘out there’ – it also shows what a great marketing and business development tool Twitter can be for your business.

OK – Now it’s YOUR turn!

In 140 characters or less, please share YOUR answer to this question;“What 1 piece of marketing advice would you give to a start-up business?”